Page 6 of Nita’s Bounty

My heart skips a beat. She’s even more beautiful up close. Much like the room, she’s draped in colorful silk. Her smooth skin is a warm brown color. Her hair is dark and glossy as it spills around her shoulders in a silky curtain. Large, dark eyes framed with thick lashes blink back at me, and her lips are full and red. The corners are quirked up in amusement.

What did she just ask me? Oh right, a drink.

I nod.

“What would you like?” She points her chin to the bottles lined up on the small bar.

I point to the decanter she’s holding.

“This is just water.”

Perfect. I nod again.

One dark eyebrow lifts, and she gives me a sardonic look before she fills the tumbler and hands it over to me. I take it with a subtle nod of thanks, then she picks up another tumbler from the bar and fills it for herself.

She sets the decanter down and then lifts her glass toward mine. “Cheers.”

My head cocks to the side, but I mimic her and hold my glass out as well.

I don’t move as she gently taps her glass against mine, the quiet tink ringing in the otherwise quiet room, before bringing it to her lips to drink. Her eyes sparkle like jewels as she watches me over the lip.

“I saw you earlier, when I was shopping,” she says after a moment. Her expression turns thoughtful, and then she adds, “You’re not who I was expecting,”

I nod but can’t help wondering who exactly she was expecting?

She takes another drink from her glass, and time stretches between us until finally her eyes drop to my untouched glass. “Are you gonna drink that?”

Without taking my eyes from her, I lift the glass and drain its contents. The water is cold and crisp on my tongue, flavorless and refreshing in the way water should be.

“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” She takes my empty glass and sets it, and hers, back on the bar.

I lift my fingers to my throat, then I shake my head.

Her eyes widen. “Oh. You can’t speak at all?”

I start to shake my head, but then pause. I can speak. In the oceans on my home world, I use water to pass through what would be vocal cords, making speech possible. Outside of the oxygen-rich waters of my home planet, it’s much more difficult to achieve. Not impossible, though. Hard enough that I don’t speak unless it’s dire. Or unless I have a communicator, which I have never liked using.

“That’s a look that says, ‘it’s complicated.” She cocks her hip out to the side and folds her arms loosely across her chest.

A smile touches my lips, and I nod.

“Fair enough. I’d like to know your name, though.”

I’m surprised my name would matter to her. Most females have never shown any interest in me past my body and what it can do for them, which is fair enough since I’m often of the same mindset.

But not now. Not with this female.

I step toward her and don’t miss the way she tenses, dropping her arms back to her sides, but she doesn’t step back. When I’m directly in front of her, I lean down until my lips brush the small shell of her ear. This close, I can’t help but breathe in her scent. It’s light. Floral. Intoxicating.

“Shhhuvo,” my name leaves my lips as a breath of moist, warm air. Softer than a whisper.

When I lean back, her eyes are on me, and her plump lips are parted. Tiny bumps erupt across the smooth skin of her neck and down her shoulder.

“Shuvo,” she repeats. “That’s your name?”

I nod, and my heart starts to beat faster when those lush lips spread into a lovely smile.

“Shuvo,” she repeats, trying it out on her tongue. Gods help me, suddenly I can’t wait to hear how it sounds when she’s panting it. “I’m Nita.”

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